She says the program is especially in need of families to provide short-term respite homes.

“And respite homes are families that are willing to provide a weekend or evening for some of our foster homes – so that if they want a night out or a weekend for a family getaway, things like that – that they would be allowed that time alone.”

Wisconsin’s Chippewa say they’re confident that an appeals court ruling last week will open the door to safe and responsible night hunting in ceded territory.

The Wisconsin DNR hasn’t allowed deer hunting at night outside of reservation boundaries, and a federal judge has twice upheld the restriction out of concern for public safety. But last week an appeals court in Chicago ruled the opposite and sent the case back to U.S. District Court, saying the state hasn’t provided proof that night hunting is dangerous.

Lac du Flambeau held a dedication ceremony for a remodeled historic building today…that remains part of a tragic legacy of federally-run boarding schools. The Boys Dormitory will now house historic and cultural preservation offices.

The Boys Dormitory building dates back to the boarding school era around the early 1900s, when the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs forced Native American children to go to schools far away from their families. They weren’t allowed to speak their native language, maintain their cultural identity or even keep their given names.

Lac du Flambeau broke ground on a new treatment center for substance abuse and mental illness today. The tribe will be the first in Wisconsin to build this kind of facility.

Community members, state officials and tribal leaders braved the day’s chill for a ground breaking ceremony on the shores of Lake Pokegama.

“We’re celebrating the ground-breaking of a new treatment center, with the expectations that it will be build sometime between now and spring. This will allow 20 beds, with potential expansion of 20 additional beds at some point in time.”

The Wild Rice Festival is held every year during the rice harvesting season, which usually spans late August to early September.

As Lac du Flambeau spokesperson Brandon Thoms explains, wild rice has been an important part of Ojibwe culture since the tribes first migrated to the area. A prophecy had foretold that the people should settle in a place where the food grows on the water.

Lac du Flambeau hopes to provide more support for families and kids in its foster care system. The state of Wisconsin has signed an agreement allowing the tribe to access a new stream of federal funding.

The Title IV-E program is the federal government’s foster care program.

Until recently, funds from that program have gone to the state of Wisconsin and its counties, but have never been funneled to the tribes. That’s changing, now that officials have signed an agreement allowing that money to flow directly to the tribe’s foster care administration.

A study shows most patrons of Lac du Flambeau’s casino don’t smoke, and would visit more often if the casino was nonsmoking. Lake of the Torches Casino partnered with the Great Lakes Intertribal Council to survey almost a thousand gamblers.

Great Lakes Intertribal Council Epidemiologist Isaiah Brokenleg says it’s the first time a casino has cooperated with a public health entity to do a study on smoking preferences. He explains that partnership gave researchers access to the patron database.